. . . blasts former head-coach Mutasa
MURAPE MURAPE is breathing fire. The firebrand Dynamos assistant coach, who has often been accused of unnecessarily clashing with players, has launched a scathing attack on Lloyd Mutasa, bluntly accusing the former DeMbare gaffer of intoxicating players at the ailing Harare giants.
The former DeMbare captain, who won six Premier Soccer League titles as a player in a topflight career that began in 1997 and ended in 2015, also believes some former sons of Dynamos are angry that the team was not relegated in the just-ended season.
Murape (38) and head coach Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigove took over an ailing Dynamos from Mutasa on September 27, with a mandate to save the club from relegation.
The duo managed three wins, two draws and two losses as DeMbare escaped what would have been a monumental disaster for the country’s most successful soccer team.
“They want the team to struggle so that they can come in as Messiahs,” said Murape in an interview with The Sunday Mail Sport last week.
2018 will rank as one of the worst seasons for Dynamos as they finished 11th on the log and 36 points behind champions FC Platinum.
For the first time in over a decade, and for only the second time since 1969, DeMbare failed to provide a player on the Soccer Stars Calendar.
And Murape feels the football giant can only resurrect if all the forces within the club pull in one direction.
“From the start we inherited a team with players who were aligned more to Samaita (Mutasa) than the club itself. These players felt Samaita shouldn’t have been fired.
“We have all played for Dynamos and achieved a lot with the club but we should not turn the club into something like a personalised church where we say I will follow this pastor.
“These players are still aligned to the previous coach, if you look at the my team. All my life I have learned a lot from past Dynamos coaches like Sunday Chidzambwa, Kuda Muchemeyi and David Mandigora.
“I played with Lloyd Mutasa and he also coached me and I don’t think he had any issues with me. I played with Kalisto Pasuwa and he also coached me.
“I was a player for 21 years, I know how it feels to be a player and for me to start ill-treating players right now is uncalled for.
“I am not afraid to offend a player with positive truth. I am confrontational not because it makes me powerful but to make things straight,” thundered Murape.
“There are a lot of people who are angry that Dynamos survived relegation, some within the system and some from the previous technical team.